In the Fast Lane

Of course, one thing never changes: getting buy-in from senior management tends to smooth a software launch. The difficulty with B&P software, which can cost millions of dollars to deploy, is that it doesn't present an obvious payback. "It's hard to put a dollar sign on decision support," says John McMahan, senior business adviser at consultancy The Hackett Group. "Some of these project plans have negative ROI."

That's not the case for the District of Columbia, which recently completed a $5.5 million deployment of Hyperion Solutions's Planning and Scorecard programs. According to Sandy Lazar, director of key systems for the district, improved efficiencies generated by the new software should throw off a $1 million return per year. Even if those numbers don't quite pan out, the new system is a quantum leap from the spreadsheets planners in Washington had been using. "Most people couldn't look at anything," recalls Nina Sober, project manager. "They didn't have access to anything." —J.G.

• « previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4